Chapter 8 (Agriculture and Food Production)

Geography 111 with Kaldjian at University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire

About this deck

By: Amber Rogers
Textbook:

Places and Regions in Global Context: Human Geography (5th Edition)
Created: 2010-12-15
Size: 41 flashcards
Views: 75

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Agrarian

the culture of distinctive agricultural communities and also refers to landholding systems

Agricultural Revolutions (3 Phases)

1. Use of Plow and draft animals

2. Improvements in outputs, fertilizers and drainage systems

3. Use of contract farming, machines and chemicals

Agribusiness

A set of economic and political relationships that organizes food production from the seeds to the agricultural product

Agricultural Industrialization

process whereby the farm has moved from being the centerpiece of agricultural production to being part of a integrated multilevel industrialized process including production, storage, processing, distribution, marketing and retailing

Agriculture

business directed at the cultivation of crops and raising livestock for sustenance and profit

Chemical Farming

adding synthetic fertilizers such as herbicides, fungicides and pesticides to crops to enhance the yield

Crop Rotation

Crops that are planted in the area are changed to balance the types of Nutrients in the soil

Food Chain

connection among producers and consumers and regions and places

Food Manufacturing

Adding economic value to agricultural products through a range of treatments such as processing, canning, refining and packaging

Food Regime

Farmers no longer strived to maximize productivity but grew higher quality produce

Globalized Agriculture

Economic sector and a geographically distributed activity

Green Revolution

Research to find more productive plant varieties

Hunting and Gathering

Practiced before farming where people would feed themselves by killing wild animals and gathering fruits, nuts and other plants

Intensive Subsistence

High population densities

High yields per unit

Small holdings

Modify the environment

Minimal mechanization

Polyculture

Intercropping (Intertillage)

Mixing different seeds and seedlings in the same swidden

Polyculture

Planting a variety of crops helps....

minimize risks

diversity of nutrients

maximize production

Monoculture

Planting and harvesting one or very few crops

Mechanization

replacement of human farm labor with machines

Pastoralism

Breeding and herding of animals to satisfy human needs for food, shelter, and clothing

Pastoral Nomadism

Arid Lands

Dependence on herd

movement follows annual cycles

Nomads DO NOT WANDER

Usufruct

Traditional rights to land use

Shifting Cultivation

Form of agriculture found in tropical forests, farmers aim to maintain soil fertility by crop rotations

Subsistence Agriculture

System in which agriculturalists consume all the produce

Swidden

Land ready for cultivation

Slash and Burn

Existing plants are cropped close to the ground, left to dry and then lit on fire

Transhumance

Movement of herds according to seasonal rhythms

Urban Agriculture

establishment or performance of agricultural practices in or near an urban setting

Fertile Crescent

agricultural hearth area in the middle east

Commercial Agriculture

Commercial

Monocultures

Industrialized

Resource intensive

fuel, fertilizers, pesticides

irrigation common

Long-term sustainability is questionable

Non-Commercial Agriculture

peasant systems

production for consumption

semi-subsistencestill practiced inmuchofworld’s

no purely subsistence agrarian systems remain periphery

– not fully integrated into regional/worldwide markets

Extensive vs. Intensive Agriculture

Intensive Systems

Small area feeds many

High inputs and outputs

Examples: Urban dairy, hothouses, vegetables

Extensive systems

Cover wide areas – Low inputs & outputs

Examples: Wheat, grazing, hunting/gathering, nomadism

Land Equivalency Ratio (LER)

indicates the amount of land needed to grow both crops together compared to the amount of land needed to grow pure stands of each

over 1.0 advantage

under 1.0 disadvantage

Von Thunen Model

more intensive agriculture found near population centers (consumers)

– land at center more expensive

– non-perishables or converted to non-perishables

– less invested in production per unit of land

technology changes model

Hectare

Unit of measurement=10,000m2 or 2.5 acres

Fair Trade

Global Network of producers, traders, consumers, focused on building equitable trading relationships

Norman Borlaug

Father of the Green Revolution

Won Nobel Peace Prize

Thomas Malthus

An Essay on the Principle of Population (1798)

population growth greater than growth in production of food

population will exhaust food

supplies

He wanted creation laws to limit the population.

Neo-Malthusians

People today who share Malthus perspective and predict a population doomsday

Population Debate

the debate whether the earth can sustain a certain population.

IPAT

easiest to target population reduction

emphasis of the Neo-Malthusians

for all humans on earth to live like Americans

Ecological Footprint

measure of human demand on the Earth's ecosystems. It compares human demand with the planets ecological capacity to regenerate.

About this deck

By: Amber Rogers
Textbook:

Places and Regions in Global Context: Human Geography (5th Edition)
Created: 2010-12-15
Size: 41 flashcards
Views: 75

About StudyBlue

“Simply amazing. The flash cards are smooth, there are many different types of studying tools, and there is a great search engine. I praise you on the awesomeness.”
Dennis